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A forward-looking committee of Anglicans in 1918 purchased a sizeable block of land in Victoria Street (now Froude Street), Banyo, at a cost of £240.
This was a very long-sighted view, and Dean Francis de Witt Batty was to say at the stump-capping ceremony, that when he arrived in Brisbane at the beginning of the century he had not anticipated any need for a church in the area during his lifetime. In addition, it is on record in the minutes of the Parochial Council of May 1948 that Mr Jordan said, "Institutions have been land-starved", and he was of the opinion that those who purchased Banyo land showed great foresight in the area so obtained.
The first Anglican services were held in private houses from February 22nd until August 1st 1920. Then there was a gap and people travelled to Nundah until 1925, when the Anglican Mission re-started services in the newly-built Banyo Memorial Hall. These services continued until 1929.
The use of the Hall was divided between the Anglican and Baptist Churches, each having alternate morning and evening services. After July 1927 the control of the area was vested in St Francis' Church at Nundah. In 1928, permission was given for two allotments to be sold to raise money to build a church hall in which services could be held, leaving the church with almost an acre of land. But the proposed hall became the church.
The church was designed by Mr W.C. Nicholls, AQIA, a local resident. Originally, it was 30' x 24' and had accommodation for approximately 100 people.
The organ, was donated by St Francis Church in October, 1926. The church was finally dedicated by Archbishop Gerald Sharp on February 17th, 1929.
In the meantime, social activities were in full swing. Fetes were held in the church grounds and dances in the Banyo School of Arts. In 1945, it was decided to erect a church hall, and on February 16th, 1946, Bishop Horace Dixon officiated at yet another stump-capping. Most of the building of the hall was carried out by Mr J. Thorngaard. The official opening was on September 4th, 1946.
Until a side verandah which incorporated a supper room was added, supper dances and other functions were served in a large tent erected nearby. In April 1947 it was agreed by the parishioners that the Methodist congregation might use the hall for services on the 2nd and 3rd Sunday evenings of each month.
The church continued as a daughter church of St Francis', being enlarged by the addition of the present sanctuary and a vestry, and a verandah on the eastern side. The stump-capping ceremony of the extensions took place on Whitsunday, 29th May, 1955 at 11 o'clock, with Archbishop Reginald Halse officiating.
The congregation was growing, and the minutes of the Easter meeting of the parish in 1960 show that acts of Communion had increased by 50% in the year. There were 15 Sunday School teachers and the overdraft had decreased by £800.
As far back as July, 1953 it had been agreed at a parish meeting that it was desirable that the parish should be split, with Banyo and Northgate forming a new Parochial District. But the financial state of the whole parish - particularly the enormous debt on the new St. Francis' church after 1959 - slowed division down. Autonomy was finally achieved in 1974, and the inauguration of the new district took place on Whitsunday, June 2nd. The official declaration was pronounced by Archbishop Felix Arnott at the Eucharist at 7 o'clock on Sunday, June 16th.
The Rev. J.L. Noble was locum tenens until the institution of the Rev. Hartley Hansford as Vicar on Advent Sunday, December 1st, with the Archbishop again officiating. It was only just over four years later that the District became a parish.
Cannon Ted Bradley succeeded Fr. Hansford and then Rev. Dr. Don Edwards, the former curate, was rector from 1985 to 1988. The Rev. Philip Frier was rector from 1988 to 1993 followed by the Rev. William Ross from 1993 to 2000.
In 1995 the church was moved further back and extensions to the church were carried out to the present day church. The current rector, Rev. Ron Grigg, arrived in June 2000.
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